When Danes want to be free of glasses and contact lenses, private clinics make money from the popular lens replacement surgery.
But if eye problems arise afterwards, the bill lands more and more often with the public healthcare system.
This is according to Marijke Vittrup, director of the Danish Eye Association, which represents the interests of eye patients.
- We have never received as many inquiries from patients of the same kind as we do in connection with glasses-free surgeries. We experience that when things go wrong, there is not sufficient help from the private clinics that performed the surgery, she says on P1 Morgen. ( https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/p1-morgen/p1-morgen-2026/torsdag-16-juli-2026-11802633294/00:19:13 )
She says that healthy citizens can end up as patients in the publicly funded healthcare system after the glasses-free procedure, also called an RLE operation.
I would advise everyone against getting the surgery, because if it goes wrong, it goes wrong, says Bodil Sørensen, who has visited Aalborg University Hospital 59 times after the lens replacement. (Photo: © Henning Bagger, Ritzau Scanpix)
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At the hospital 59 times
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One of the patients who has had problems for years after a glasses-free operation is 65-year-old Bodil Sørensen.
She paid 50,000 kroner for a lens replacement operation, but ten years later, she has constantly red and irritated eyes.
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> I paid for a service, so I also think they should do it properly and help me
> Bodil Sørensen, eye patient
P1 Morgen has reviewed Bodil Sørensen's medical records, which show that she has visited Aalborg Hospital 59 times since the operation in 2016.
- I am bothered daily by dry eyes and am forced to wear protective glasses almost all the time.
- The dry eyes also mean I can't sit and read a book, adds Bodil Sørensen, who works part-time as a nurse.
Read also: Nordic region's largest eye company criticized for legal violations - eye surgeries went wrong for two former customers ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/nordens-stoerste-oejenvirksomhed-faar-kritik-lovbrud-oejenoperationer-gik-galt-tidligere-kunder )
It was the company Memira, which calls itself "leading in Scandinavia," that performed the eye operation. But at the company, the help ran out when Bodil Sørensen developed complications.
She had 19 check-ups at Memira after the operation, but that stopped in 2020. The explanation was that they could no longer help her.
After the eye operation, Bodil Sørensen is forced to wear protective glasses almost all the time, she says on P1 Morgen. (Photo: © Private, Bodil Jørgensen)
Therefore, it ended up being Aalborg Hospital that had to treat her.
- I paid for a service, so I also think they should do it properly and help me.
- I don't think that's right, she says on P1 Morgen.
DR has presented the criticism to Memira both via email and phone, but the company and country manager Lars Petersen have not responded to the inquiry.
© Ritzau Scanpix
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Lens replacement surgery
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There are several different types of vision-correcting procedures. Lens replacement surgery, also called refractive lens exchange (RLE), is performed on people with presbyopia who want to see well without contact lenses or glasses.
The operation removes the clear natural lens and replaces it with an artificial lens that corrects the vision error. The procedure is identical to cataract surgery.
Lens replacement is most often performed at private clinics, as presbyopia is not covered by publicly funded treatment.
The procedure is associated with greater risks and is typically only performed on people for whom laser treatment is not possible or has no effect.
Sources: Denmark's National Encyclopedia, the Danish Eye Association.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.